John 15:13
"Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for his friends."
Matthew 6:24
"Then Jesus said to his disciples , if any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross and follow me."
So often when I hear the word "generosity" I think in monetary terms. As a stay-at-home mom, I rarely have any of my "own" money to do with as I please, and so a lot of times when the topic of being generous with our financial resources comes up, I admittedly tune out a little, because Chris makes most of the financial decisions. Chris and I believe we can't out-give God and we have learned to trust Him with our finances over the years & He has blessed us beyond measure. We don't always have what we want but we have ALWAYS have what we need.
So for me, generosity always comes down to sacrificing something that is precious to me, like my time, my desires, and my check-list. Jesus reminds me of this in Matthew 6:24 when he says if we really want to be a follower of his, then we will turn from our selfish ways, we will lay aside our own needs to meet another's needs. I am such a selfish person, but God continues to be patient with me and shows me opportunities to grow in this and lately He has provided a kairos moment for me and I'm working a plan that involves dying to myself at 9:30 p.m and taking the time to talk with my kiddos individually and pray for them instead of dropping into bed to watch Netflix. I've not been perfect but I'm making progress being generous with that time. Also as God often does, he teaches me through Chris. Not to lift him up on a pedestal, (he's got flaws, trust me:)) but he encourages me like no other to be less selfish, which is what I need. I was inspired to write this entry after what he did for me last night.
Abbie has always wanted to see the play, "Wicked," and shortly after my cancer diagnosis I decided I REALLY wanted to take her. It turned out that my mom was going to be in town during the run, so we made an unusual splurge on tickets. They were in the nosebleed section, but who cares?! I have felt so great, I just knew I would be fine to go. Well, I got a really bad cold last week and even lost my voice and had to start antibiotics. Since the play was two nights after my last bad chemo treatment, I also had nausea too. I stayed in bed all day yesterday and tried to figure out a way to salvage the night. I could probably go if I loaded up on meds, but those make me unable to drive, and the play wouldn't get out until 10:30. Downtown. After a Royal's win. You get the picture. I'm just not a great driver in unfamiliar situations, much less on 3 different medications! I was leaning heavily toward not going and giving my ticket to our oldest son, Jake, but I then I REALLY wanted to have a special girls' night with my mom and daughters & he didn't care that much about it. I was pretty much just laying around feeling sorry for myself for the better part of the day. Chris was supposed to teach the next morning in Edgerton and his normal routine is to go to bed early on Saturday night so he can get up super early (like 4:00 or 5:00 a.m 😜)to spend time with Jesus. So about 3:00 in the afternoon, he is outside with the kids and he texts me, "I will drive you guys tonight so you can go." I immediately burst into tears! Granted it's only a 20 minute drive each way, but it meant that he would not get to bed until after 11:00 with an early morning rise time. I can't tell you how much it meant to me for him to drop us off like queens right in front of the Music Hall and then pick us back up right as it ended. That mini-van might as well have been a limousine, I tell ya!
So now my goal is to figure out a way to be generous right back to him! Generosity should always start with the ones we live with, and then spread out from there. Let's ask God to show us ways to out-do each other in being generous, first in our families and then together on mission.
Blessings,
Rachel Moix